Guess who’s back: Renault’s former team principal Briatore, banned for life from motorsports for his role in the Renault race-fixing scandal, has had his ban overturned by a French court.

This does not automatically mean that he will return to Formula One, only that he can if he so desires. Not to Renault, though: parallel to the repeal of Briatore’s ban, the team announced the appointment of Eric Boullier as their new team principal. But Briatore runs a brisk business as a manager of drivers, including Red Bull’s Mark Webber, and this was also affected by his motorsports ban.

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According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Briatore is now pondering legal action against Nelsinho Piquet, the former Renault driver who brought the whole matter to light shortly after Briatore sacked him in August 2009.

The decision is not likely to be the last word in the case, as you can probably guess from the goings about of the soap opera also known as Formula One. From his underground lair inside a dormant volcano in the South Pacific, Bernie Ecclestone is already working on the next episode.